


/anɪˈvəːs(ə)ri/

by dickspeightjrs



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anniversary, Canon Compliant, Dean Winchester In Love, Fluff, Happy Dean Winchester, M/M, Sleepy Castiel (Supernatural)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:35:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26532223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dickspeightjrs/pseuds/dickspeightjrs
Summary: anniversary/anɪˈvəːs(ə)ri/nounthe date on which an event took place or an institution was founded in a previous year.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 6
Kudos: 58





	/anɪˈvəːs(ə)ri/

**_ANNIVERSARY_ **

_/anɪˈvəːs(ə)ri/_

_noun_

  * _the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded in a previous year._



Anniversaries had never meant much to Dean. His parents were barely married long enough to celebrate any significant anniversaries. Neither Sam or Dean were in relationships that celebrated anniversaries. And birthdays don’t happen when you’re saving the world all the time.

But there is one date that will always stay in Dean’s mind. Every time it nears, no matter what they’re doing, what monster they’re hunting, Dean’s heart beats a little faster and he feels a little warmer inside. 

When he closes his eyes he can see the newspaper he picked up from the abandoned gas station the day he clawed himself out of that grave. Clear as day: Thursday, September 18th.

Little did he know at that point, how much his life was about to change. He chuckles when he remembers telling Sam he didn’t believe in angels. Who could have ever predicted that he’d not only meet one, but have one pull him out of hell? And save him in other ways too.. 

Dean sees the date again, this time on the newspaper Sam has just brought in from his morning run and threw down in front of Dean on the kitchen table. _Friday, September 18th 2020._

2020\. It’s been 12 years since they first met and yet it feels like yesterday. Like Dean could spend another whole lifetime with Cas and it would still feel like no time had passed at all. They’d fought and they’d made up so many times but Dean wouldn’t trade any of it because it meant that they’d ended up here. 

The sound of shuffling feet draws Dean’s attention to the entrance of the kitchen. Castiel walks through the door with hair even more messed up than usual and sleep pants that are a little rumpled from the cocoon of blankets the angel had just left. 

Dean loves him. 

He’d accepted a long time ago that love, true bone-deep, soul-crushing love, would never happen for him. He felt whispers of potential with Cassie, but that ended before it began. Then there was Lisa, he loved her sure. But he could never let himself fall all the way for her, he was always just waiting for the other shoe to drop, always on edge. 

But Cas. 

God, Castiel, _angel of the freakin’ Lord_. He bust through those barn doors and slowly broke down Dean’s walls. Those wooden doors were like the first of Dean’s own personal 66 seals, except breaking them didn’t lead to an apocalypse, they lead to his heart. And fuck if Cas didn’t come in and tear them apart one by one for years. 

Castiel pours himself a coffee. He didn’t used to enjoy food and drink but since he and Dean got together he’d settled into human life pretty easily. Dean liked to say that he’d been domesticated but Cas would just frown disapprovingly in response. Now, he can’t wake up in the morning without his coffee. Dean takes the blame for that, he is just the same. 

He remembers that time when Jack had gone to wake him and Castiel had tried to stop him before Dean could rip his head off. Now Jack had to deal with both of them like that in the mornings, poor kid. 

Castile shuffles over to Dean, coffee mug still cupped in his hands. Dean sees his eyes flit down to the front page of the newspaper. A small smile graces Castiel’s face. The angel moves over to where Dean is sitting and places a kiss to Dean’s temple. “Happy Anniversary, Dean.” 

“Happy Anniversary, Cas” Dean replies, smile in his voice. The Dean who walked into that barn 12 years ago probably wouldn’t recognise the Dean saying sappy shit to his angel boyfriend. But Dean couldn’t bring himself to care. The Dean that had just dug himself from under six feet of soil was still thinking about what others thought. Trying too hard to impress a father that had been dead for years already (and absent even before that). 

Dean gazes at Castiel, who has just slid the newspaper over to take a look at the comics, and he sees everything that he’d tried so hard to pretend he never wanted. Falling in love, living a white picket fence life with 2.5 kids was always for Sammy, never for Dean. Dean was always adamant he was going to die with a gun in his hand, bloody and alone. But a small voice inside him spat at him every time. 

_You’re a liar, Dean. You want it, too. You want to love someone. You want to be loved. You want to feel safe._

And now? Well, he may not have the white picket fence or the 2.5 kids but he’s got an underground bunker and a nephilim kid. 

And, Dean thinks as Castiel’s face scrunches up in laughter at something whatever quip Garfield said this week, he’s certainly got all the love. 

**Author's Note:**

> Also posted on my [tumblr](https://dickspeightjrs.tumblr.com/). (Follow me?)
> 
> Comment and give a kudos if you liked?


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